Main Menu

Search form

Jobless Claims at Lowest Level Since 1969

Remember all those things that lefty economists insisted were impossible 3 years ago? They want voters to pay attention to anything and everything except those numbers.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to a near 49-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength, which should continue to underpin economic growth.

The labor market, which is viewed as being near or at full employment, is steadily boosting wage growth, which could help to support consumer spending as the stimulus from the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion tax cut package fades.

The people whose wages went up due to that stimulus are the ones who are going to be spending money.

The claims data has no bearing on September’s employment report, which is scheduled for release on Friday. According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 185,000 in September after surging 201,000 in August. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.8 percent, an 18-year low first hit in May.

Factory goods orders surged 2.3 percent, the largest increase since September 2017, boosted by a surge in demand for aircraft, after falling 0.5 percent in July. Orders increased 8.6 percent on a year-on-year basis in August.

Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. economy, is being supported by robust domestic demand, but momentum is expected to gradually slow amid worker shortages, an increasingly bitter trade war between the United States and China, a strong dollar and moderating global growth.